Ansaru

Ansaru is a splintergroup of the Boko Haram jihadist organization of north-east Nigeria formed in January 2012 by Khalid al-Barnawi and other Boko Haram members that wanted to carry out international operations. The group was allied with al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and the Seleka militia of the Central African Republic, and Ansaru operated in the Kano State heartland of the Hausa and Fulani, coordinating its operatons with AQIM and the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa. However, in 2013, most Ansaru leaders returned to Boko Haram, and on 4 April 2016 the Nigerian Army arrested Barnawi in Lokoja.